His aunt Magool was one of Somalia’s most famous and popular singers. His grandfather was a poet. Not many know who I am talking about at this point but when I say K’naan an increasing number of bells start ringing. Kaynaan Warsame, as is his real name, was born in 1978 to plenty of closely related cultural role models but also just in time to experience the hazards of the Somalian Civil War, starting in 1991.

K’naan conveniently means “traveler” and via the family’s escape route to NYC in 1991, redirecting to Toronto, Canada, then through the critically appreciated and successful debut The Dusty Foot Philosopher from 2005, this Somali-Canadian MC, poet and dreamer is now ready to take on the world for real with the release of his sophomore record, Troubadour. And he ain’t late to tell us about that trip either.

What made K’naan’s debut such a compelling and convincing piece of work was the fateful combination of  skill and will to rhythmically tell about the violent reality in Somalia, in such a personal way, with songwriting that never ever left the listener with a sense of going astray. I’m sorry about the rhyme there, but K’naan’s efficient rapping and attention-craving voice has left me quite in an inspirational mood. After Troubadour, my head is literally brimming with words and messages just waiting to be tied together.

Letting that rest for a while, we head into K’naan’s updated sound. The Philosopher saw K’naan striking from the underground and establishing his name, at least in the rough streets of his hometown Mogadishu where I suppose he became a role model himself, standing for success and peaceful but earnest communication. Troubadour will either shatter his reputation or raise him to the skies as a God among his Somali brethren.

The first half is full of the sort of uptempo world-dance songs that M.I.A.’s Kala conquered the world with in 2007. It also features something new to K’naan but common in hip hop, which we know all too well by now: guests. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 joins in for chorus falsetto on the fun, novelty, pop blast “Bang Bang”, Kirk Hammett of Metallica (!) adds more weight and emphasis to dusted riffs for a sweet recap with the debut’s only rocker, “Rap Gets Jealous”, while no other than Damian Marley drops by and forms a dream team on the other wise bland track, “I Come Prepared”.

Some might very well wonder when K’naan started stirring up parties and fleeting fun instead of awareness and protests among his listeners. Others might also remember that he combined fun and reality’s hard facts in a highly successful way on The Philosophers‘ second track “Soobax”. He is yet another artist to see and tell things how they really are in the world with war, violence and injustices but to also fuse some hope into all the misery. This is being expressed in “Dreamer”: “It’s OK to feel good,” a message which is sinfully easy to take in while listening to Troubadour.

I think all his young Somalian dreamers and protegés may forget any initial suspicions of him forgetting his ancestry when getting jiggy with Marley, Mos Def and others on an album where every song is treated like an important, but nonetheless, irresistible pop hit single. Hell no, I’m sure the streets of Mogadishu will be on fire of the positive kind for once when this baby is released. Besides, there’s always the calmer, more contemplative later half of the album to rely on.

Not quite as crucial for dealing with Somalia’s past and present in a street smart way and not quite as charmingly earthbound, hip-hop, afro-poppy as the Philosopher was, Troubadour still manages to further distinguish K’naan’s sensibility to balance seriousness with fun in a truly African way. For those who would’ve expected pure poetry in an acoustic folk tradition from the name Troubadour, it’s always good to understand that the dusty foot philosopher is still traveling. K’naan might not ever perform any better than on his debut, and he might not ever produce something that standardizing, but this album reinvents an artist who’s to-be-universally-known-name and impact on a single country’s social and political culture can no longer be denied.

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